Book Review: EMP by Wilson Harp

In a flash of searing light, the world changed. A massive solar flare has crippled the modern world and brought chaos and destruction. David Hartsman is stuck in the remote farm town of his youth on what was expected to be a short visit to check on his ailing parents. While his wife and his daughter are hundreds of miles away at home in Chicago, David must face the dangers associated with his own survival and the pressures of not being with his family. In a worldwide catastrophe, every struggle is personal.

EMP is the dramatic story of one man and his struggle for survival in a world that is falling apart.

My Review:
David's relationship is in a bit of trouble so he takes the opportunity to visit his parents in his old home town. While he is there, an EMP hits and everything comes to a stop. The community decide that they must work together under the guidance of lifelong prepper Ted to try to limit the damage and look after each other.

David is an ordinary guy on a visit to his parents, dealing with the usual issues. His relationship is falling apart, his mother is being treated for dementia and his father for a heart condition. His first worries when the solar flare causes an EMP is that his parents will no longer receive their vital medications and his partner is too fat away to reach. Ted is a lifelong prepper who has been getting ready for disaster, along with Hurricane Katrina survivor Kenny and they have a self sufficient compound that can look after themselves, but they agree to share some of their produce to help the rest of the town. Anne is David's old flame and she becomes one of his closest friends.

There are other people in the town who have other ways of doing things. There is another homestead which is set up as a party compound where women are given all the comforts they want or need in return for their services for the men there. Kenny still has to face a certain amount of small town racism when he gets into a fight with the man who has been stealing off everyone, and the town is divided about the punishment.

It's a decent enough story. It covers the initial confusion of the EMP event and how quickly the community gets organised with trying to supply everyone with the essential, preparing toilets and graves, and getting people into work groups according to their skills. I found this quite interesting to read and there is certainly nothing wrong with the writing or the way the story progresses. However I did feel it was lacking in the drama and tension that other apocalypse books offer. For example it talks about the suicide of 200 people in the town who can't cope with the new world they live in but it was dealt with in a somewhat clinical manner without any real emotion to it which left me disconnected from any feelings towards the dead.

There are a few crimes in the book. The thief story leads to the racism side plot which I didn't feel was necessary in the plot and it took one of my favourite characters out of the main plot, which was disappointing. The other action concerned the fate of a few people who tried to leave town, which leads to a shooting incident between the town and troublemakers. Again, I just felt that it lacked the tension I would have wanted in those scenes and I'd have liked to see this kind of scenario expanded on.

A decent, well written apocalypse book but I don't think I'd read on with the series. If you prefer your apocalypse with community rather than violence then you might enjoy this one. 

Read September 2017
3 star